Dear Generation X,
I have three important posts in the works, but as Hell Week is quickly approaching for we college students, they’re on hold for the moment. For now, a brief and totally off-the-cuff spiff:
The current group of 18-24 year olds are statistically the most uninvolved, disengaged generation of young people in American history. Bar none. And that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact. The issue I take with those I meet who exemplify this trend is that they seem to have deluded themselves into believing that the realm of politics and government is someone else’s responsibility, and that if they choose to be apathetic, it is their right.
To me, they might as well be saying, “the earth is flat,” because that is the staggering amount of ignorance it requires to maintain such an uninformed, pitiful attitude. In a republic such as the United States, politics and government are the duty of the people. If you are not plugged in, you are being irresponsible. We, as a nation, need to start considering our right to vote, petition, and rally as the sort of obligation that we consider when we speak of providing for our families and paying our bills. Because, folks, you can accumulate as much wealth as you damn well want. You can be a responsible mother/father and feed and clothe your children, you can send them to the very best university and provide for them the very best that life has to offer. But none of that– none of it– will mean a single fucking thing if you don’t invest yourself in the government and in the country that they will inherit. All of your efforts to be a responsible member of your family– whether that is a parent, sibling, or grandparent– will be for naught if you don’t also endeavor to be a responsible citizen.
Additionally, anyone who uses the term “right” in the context of having rights in the same sentence as “apathetic” is– and I say this without hesitation– an unfortunate moron. The entire concept of the values of human/civil rights is derived (in the modern sense) from the Enlightenment Movement… otherwise known as the “Age of Reason.” Consider that. You are claiming the right to be an apathetic mooch based off the hard work and sacrifices of those who gave you the very concept. Wow. Well, I tell you what. I’m in a Henry Clay, compromising sort of mood. So I won’t argue with you over the fact that you indeed have that right, so long as you don’t argue with me over the fact that you are indeed an idiot.
Lastly, the notion that your choice to be apathetic doesn’t affect anyone else only further illuminates the precise degree to which you are an idiot. It proves your utter lack of understanding for the very foundational basics of democracy and government, and while that earns both my pity and disgust, I am frankly too revolted by your regression into a Neanderthal to waste my time teaching you the ABCs of intellect. If you are so adamant on being a lazy farce, please feel free to move to one of the many countries that do not allow your participation in government, for it would surely suit your indolent sensibilities best.
For those of you who do not wish to be apathetic, who want to be civilly engaged, but just aren’t sure where to begin or how to start informing yourselves on the issues, I at least applaud your interest. It’s a good start. I would propose a number of recommendations, starting with taking a civics/government 101 course as soon as you can. Some high schools offer them, but if yours doesn’t, take one the very second you enter college. If you aren’t attending college, most states offer free civics courses through branches of local universities. For instance, two of my politics professors teach free classes at a lodge about 20 miles from my college. The resources are out there. It only takes a little bit of investigation, and with the birth of the internets, there truly is no excuse.
In the meantime, if any of you ever have any questions about U.S. government, democracy, or politics, I would be positively honored to assist you in your search for an answer. I will answer outright and/or provide a number of resources so that you can research yourself. Whichever you prefer, because I am not free of bias and I would hate to influence your thinking without your permission. Seriously. Independent thought is a gift only you can give yourself.
“The death of democracy will not be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” –Robert Maynard Hutchins
/Elysa.
Bree said,
April 16, 2008 at 9:42 pm
“What luck for the rulers that men do not think.” – Adolph Hitler
“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” -Benjamin Franklin
I agree 100%. I am so sick of everyone around me not caring at all who the next president is. Or, sometimes, instead of just apathy, they jump behind one candidate and put all of their support behind them, without even knowing what they stand for.
They lap up every story about Obama, Hillary, etc in the news without even second-guessing their sources. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve responded to some idiotic anti-Obama note someone wrote on Facebook with a link to Snopes where they thoroughly debunk every ridiculous rumour that the media comes up with.
Seen here: http://snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp
hilere said,
April 16, 2008 at 11:34 pm
You make a good point but I think you’re preaching to the converted here. There won’t be many people apethetic to the “realm of politics and government” that read this blog – if any.
Kevin said,
April 17, 2008 at 2:20 am
That quote at the end made the post even better then it already was. So true..
Tom_F said,
April 17, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Agreed. As someone who lives (far) outside the US, it amazes me that such a high percentage of american citizens don’t vote. In Australia, if you don’t turn up to vote you’re given a fine (I say “turn up to vote” because some people choose not to “tick any of the boxes”).
Having said this, I myself would find it hard to decide whom I wanted for president were I given the choice. On one hand you’ve got McCain, your typical hard-line Republican who sports the ridiculous title of “pro-life” whilst in the same breath condemns those on death row. At least he has sort of the right idea about Iraq, although you’d think that after the Bush fiasco, the best and brightest of the Republican strategists would at least consider changing their approach to the matter.
Now on to the allegedly brighter side of the political spectrum we have the Democrats, who’ve really let me down this time.
Let’s start with the not-so-obvious, Obama. If one thing surprises me about the man, it’s that this two-faced spin doctor is actually able to stand up, given the evident lack of spine he possesses. He’s playing a one-man game of Twister with his political image, simultaneously attempting to come of as Christian (ref: his nutcase preacher), Muslim (he claims to have attended an Islamic school), African American (he’s half Hawaiian for fuck’s sake) and what you’d call your “Average American”. But as with all games of Twister, even the winner has to concede defeat at some point.
Finally we’ve got good ol’ Hillary, who was somehow surprised to find herself avalanched with the skeletons overflowing from her closet.
Coming from a foreigner this might sound a little out of place, but do you reckon it’s possible, out of the millions of potential candidates, to find one that cares about the economy, thinks the Earth is more than 6000 years old AND gives a damn whether Iraq is overrun by despotic religious zealots…again!
thoughtsofrandom said,
April 18, 2008 at 1:08 am
THANK YOU ELYSA!! I am one of the ONLY kids at my school who cares about politics. I was SO psyched to vote this past February in the VA primary and I’ve been into politics and such since I was eight. I completely agree with EVERYTHING you said!
LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Helena
Verena said,
April 18, 2008 at 4:18 am
Actually I haven’t been all that much into politics when i was younger, either. But at some point I got interested and that’s probably not a bad thing. I just still find it sometimes difficult to really understand what’s going on, so thanks for the offer to answer some questions.
And I agree, calling yourself an Anarchist just because you don’t agree with the current government, doesn’t help anything. Democracy is supposed to be based on the people, so if you don’t even try to get involved you don’t deserve a democracy…
A few days ago I got into a quite interesting discussion with one of my classmates,who thinks that the US, Korea (I guess he meant south korea) and Japan are the only successful democracies. I don’t know what he based that staement on, but I got interested and did some research, and I thought you might be interested in this. http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_INDEX_2007_v3.pdf It’s a research about how “democratic” countries are. I still didn’t know how that makes these three countries so successful and the only thing he could tell me was, that he thinks the US is a succesful democracy because the people themselves established it by getting independent from Britain. (What about other countries then? Didn’t France execute their king and is now democratic?) So, question: What makes a democracy a democracy? how would you define that term?? Is there even a real defintion for it? It seems that there are so many points you could argue about, like whether a democratic state should also include human rights (I think I good start needs human rights, but is that a sign of a democracy?) and things like this. And what makes it successful? How long it lasts? how it affects the people? Or how much saying the people have?
Another thing that’s confusing me a little is the difference between the form of state and the form of government. Like.. you know, states that are republics but democratic? And I’d say Great Britain is democratic, too, even though they have a (constutional) monarchy. So is democracy the form of government or what? I don’t quite get the difference.
Well, a whole bunch of questions and I know you are busy. It amazes me that you have the time to do all that stuff (mugglecast and now this blog)! keep up the great work!
Verena
Mog said,
April 18, 2008 at 7:52 am
Well Verena allow me to answer you since I’ve already done 3 tests this year on the subject. There are more then one definition of democracy. The main ones are:
1. The people rule(Demo-people, cracy-rule)
2. Pluralism-a variety of groups and unions
3. The principle of majorty rule.
4. Human rights, minority
5. Limited government(meaning they can’t do anything they want to)
6. Seperation of the authority
7. Government change-elections
8. Rule of law
9. Equality before law.
There are many approaches to democray as well. Britain is a democracy as much as the USA is. What makes a good democracy? well a stable one first of all, I think. As for other ways to tell I think it depends on what you think is the most important principle of a democracy.
I agree with you a 100% Elysa. However, it’s not just Americans.
I live in Israel. Now you’ll think that in a country where the words ‘colour red’ is known for some 5 year olds as something to draw with and to others: 15 seconds to run to a shelter or get blowen up, 18 year olds will get a bit more involved but that is so not the case.
The ignorance which me and my friend encounter here shocks us every single time and I have way too many examples. I got into politics when I was 10. And I had no one to influence me in any way since my mother is one of those brilliant peoples with these great plans such as: ‘We should just kill them all’
I spent two years reading every opinion column and article before deciding on my own opinion. I don’t expect other to be like me, but I do expect them to have opinions and I do expect those opinions to be based on something.
My country has so many problems that many here don’t believe it will last to see the end of this century. And my generation doesn’t give a damn.
Or when it does and it has an opinion or a solution it is usually something like(and this I heard in my physics class): We shuld put a big Magnet in the sky so it will pull all the rockets falling on Sderot and will protect us from any bombs from Iran.
Or an opinion I heard some years ago:
-I’m with Shron! Which party is he from?
me: The Likud
-And what do they stand for? (sorry,bad translation)
me:…*is speechless*
I came to this site to start getting some more educated opinion on whats going on in the USA. Its hard to make an opinion based on the israeli media. Thank you so much for this site, I enjoy reading your opinions.
Morganne said,
April 18, 2008 at 2:40 pm
My high school just recently started a club called Teen Democrats. Its a fabulous way to get involved, even though only a few of us are actually 18. We campaign for local politicians, start petitions, hold debates at lunch and even hold Registration Fairs for the students that are over 18. Its a great way to get involved, and I highly suggest everyone join or create a club like this at there school. And even if you’re not politically informed, the club is a great way to learn first hand about politics.
Adit said,
April 18, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Wow. What has got your shorts in a bundle? Even though i agree with you on this, i think you might be a bit forceful considering the fact that anyone who is as you say an apathetic idiot will not give a damn what you are saying because they are so grounded in their way of being an apathetic idiot
Amira said,
April 18, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I have been into politics since I was 7. Seeing people my age (13) completely dismissing the events surrounding the world like a pestilent fly is quite infuriating, especially when you think about how these are the people who will be the next generation the handle our turbulent world. When asking them why they don’t care, they say “Oh we’re too young to care, let the adults do it” just like every responsibility ever imposed on these selfish nonchalant imbeciles.
Tara said,
April 18, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I completely agree. I can’t stand when people say that they don’t have enough information on the current topics to go and vote. It’s pure laziness for them not vote. Go online and look things up, watch the news, or read the newspaper. Not being informed is not an excuse to not vote.
I have a question about University as I’m going into one next year. Would you recommend taking a religions course as well? I’ve taken politics in High School but I feel uninformed when it comes to world religions.
Paul said,
April 20, 2008 at 1:30 am
Yeah. The young vote is something that will always fluctuate, depending on who’s running, what he/she’s saying, and national interest as a whole. It’s to damn bad the percentage of youth voters can’t be raised by just 10 percent, or something. Actually, if a bill was proposed to raise the voting age to 25 or something, the next election would be the most voted in by generation X. That’s something to think about, especially since another one of these jerks is going to have to be re-elected in 4+ years. Since we don’t have 100% voting (across all age groups) we can be played like a piano. Sucks.
lizbeth said,
April 20, 2008 at 4:33 am
I got interested in politics when Bush was running to be re-elected. This is because I didn’t quite like his idea to go into Iraq, so I would watch some of the debates that came on tv before the elections. But then I didn’t pay as much attention as i do now. And that was only three or four years ago, but I guess now is somewhat more important, because I DO get to vote in the next general election. At my school about half of the kids are black (including me, actually) and most of them just want Obama in office because he’s black, and while I do want Obama in office, it’s definitely not because he’s black (or Hawaiian or white or whatever). I hope that in four or five years they’ll care, because it would suck if our future government is fucked up because they don’t care
Rachel said,
April 22, 2008 at 6:41 pm
First off “And that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact” Can you give me a link to the study in question? Theres little point in proclaiming something a fact unless you back it up with evidence, plus i would be interested to see exactly how it was tested.
Although I believe what your saying may be correct, that people should be more interested in politics, I think that the source your basing this off may be a little well… off.
In addition to that I’m amused to find that the majority of people answering this blog have agreed with you without asking for sources, which both illustrates your point beautifully, and shows how difficult it is to disagree with someone outright especially if you already admire that person.
(I’m also sorry if that came out a little forcefully, but as you yourself are very forceful in the way you express yourself I’m sure you won’t mind. Please do send me that link)
Samara said,
April 22, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I’m glad that I’m eligible to vote in this year’s democratic primary and general election. I keep looking back on the 2004 presidential election, when I couldn’t vote, and I felt so helpless. Though I will say that the presidential election of 2004 was really a choice between, as Lewis Black says, “two piles of s**t.” At least Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton are more impressive, and electable, than Kerry was.
April said,
April 22, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I definitely agree like 500% – I actually think though that it extends to my generation too (I’m 17) and even younger ’cause no one seems to really care or want to understand politics. At least I’m trying lol. I already signed up for classes and damnit I shoulda taken civics and government!!! but hopefully in college I can do that.
I think part of the reason that people are so apathetic is because we grow up thinking, well, since our opinion doesn’t count (i.e. we can’t vote…) why care what’s going on? and the fact that you can say one vote can make a difference when if you think of it logically, it might not…that general pessimism is not helping this nation lol.
Mariana said,
April 25, 2008 at 1:03 am
We’re actually Generation Y. Generation X-ers are in their thirties and forties now.
Fish said,
April 25, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Props to you for insisting not just that young people become involved, but educate themselves first. The only thing worse than someone who doesn’t care to vote is someone who votes but doesn’t care.
Zara said,
April 26, 2008 at 12:43 am
I definitely agree. I only know three other people at my high school who really care about politics. And by that, I don’t mean that they have a certain candidate that they support or that they belong to a certain political party. Caring about and involving yourself in government doesn’t always mean you have to take the side of a candidate…it’s just means educating yourself about current issues, coming to a conclusion, supporting your beliefs, and being open-minded. Really, it’s not that hard, and I don’t get why people aren’t more concerned. After all, we’re the ones inheriting the country–so why is it that so many people in their teens and early twenties don’t seem to give a damn about America falling to pieces?
Meagan said,
April 28, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Let me just be honest- normally I don’t tend to follow politics to an obsessive degree- I think most of it is rediculous, especially the bickering between obama and godzillary (focus on the ISSUES, please!)
However, I also believe that It is imperative that people know what their elected officials are up to- as “Bree” quoted on the first comment, hitler was able to take over because nobody cared.
Thank you for addressing an important issue, and good luck with hell week
Chris said,
April 29, 2008 at 11:34 am
I agree, but I’m going to try and play devil’s advocate. Wasn’t it a large concern of the founding fathers to avoid mob rule? It comes off as elitist but it seems like the original plan was to prevent the ignorant and the uneducated from ruling simply because of majority.
With that comes controversial rules/laws such as the electoral system and what not. I mean, you have minority rights so that people won’t be taken advantage of but what if everyone in America voted? How much better would it be?
Then again… George Bush was re-elected, but how do you argue with people who say “my vote wouldn’t count anyway” when simple majority does not determine… well almost anything? I guess it’s far more than that though, it’s writing to your congressman and the whole deal, not just voting for the presidency.
Sophie said,
May 1, 2008 at 3:58 am
Amen to that. You hear a lot of people who say that they don’t vote because the system’s corrupt, or that they don’t vote because nothings ever going to change, and to those people I have one thing to say: of course it’s not, if you don’t vote!
Lindsey said,
May 1, 2008 at 6:28 am
I have to agree with April, I’m in the ‘even younger’ age group as a freshmen in high school and I have to say it disgusts me that my generation cares more about petty gossip then politics.
I would have thought that our lethargic political involvment would be coming to an end as Bush prepared to leave office and with the battling democrats seeming more like a reality TV show then intelligent political debates (do people really care which canidate had a flag pin on and when, shouldn’t issues like the economy and the Iraq war be given priority?) but then again I was 7 when Bush entered office so I have never really been aware of an election that Bush wasn’t in.
With the condition the world is now, it will be up to my generation to clean up the mistakes and with the way my generation is responding currently, I don’t have much hope.
Sophie said,
May 12, 2008 at 12:03 am
Lindsey- As a thirteen year-old Canadian, I r e a l l y shouldn’t be aware of any president other than George Bush. Sadly, I am. One of my most vivid childhood moments is being in the car when it was anounced on the CBC (I even remember the radio station. I am sorry. Please don’t hurt me.) that Bill Clinton had been impeached. So I completely understand the perspective of being the only person you know who is interested in politics. The thing is, when I was 7 I was the only person under 28 I knew whom was interested in politics. However, now, at the age of thirteen it seems to me that nearly every young person I know is interested in politics. I thought and thought about what it could be that made this so in my hometown and I came up with a few ideas.
a) In my province there is a seperatist movement. However, it has been going on since- well, I guess it was really born out of opposition to conscription in world war two, which was particularily rampant in Quebec because it’s kinda hard to “fight for King and Country” when aforementioned King and Country conquered your people. Yes, it was over two hundered years ago, but we whine alot. Gives us something to do over the winter. (Which is still goibng on. What the hell? Theres literaly a foot of snow on the ground.)ANyways, that makes politics significantly more interesting. In your country, the young apathetic and uninformed masses don’t vote. In myprovince, they vote Bloc. . .
b) the weather. NO, I am not being funny. Think about it- I live just over half an hour, or about 20 km from Hudson Bay. We have nothing to do for 7 motnhs of the year.
But, seriously, those aren’t that big of issues. Or even reasons. And all I have to say to people who dont vote is that if you dont vote, you have NO right to bitch. Which non-voters tend to do. Alot.